Last night, we celebrated winning the CIPR Specialist Consultancy of the Year award with the team – taking a moment to pause and say well done. In a year where we’ve also entered the PR Week Top 150 for the first time and the combined force of our international might has rocketed up the PROVOKE Top 250 global league tables, it got me thinking about what winning these awards really means to us.
Our clients often ask which awards to enter, which matter, and we collectively all groan at what seems like a now ‘must do’ on the corporate marketing list… and I’ll be honest, when we enter them as an agency my expectations of winning are very low. Especially as I usually see the new and feighted agencies run by industry powerhouses top the list.
Yet when the win comes, it is glorious – a sudden recognition of all the hard work that building a startup agency brings. It’s a moment to look around and think of the first tiny office with no natural light and just the twinkling of an idea and some American optimism, to now. A time when I pinch myself every day that a team as strong as ours shows up and is proud to be considered a Vestie, and a time when our clients cheerlead us to success. Our clients are as proud as I am of what we have and are achieving.
So what does it take to be Specialist Consultancy of the Year? I’d love to say I know, but you’d have to ask the judges…
What I do know is that what makes us special is a combination of deep financial services subject matter expertise and the smartest thinkers, creative minds and pragmatic consultancy. A team who gets up every day thinking about what’s next, what’s better; a team filled with the hustle and drive to be and do their best. And an orbiting support system of colleagues across the world, incredible client partners and friends and so many other like-minded people – our amazing network – that help us keep thriving, driving and building a business with heart that we can be truly proud of.
